HeyJaredWhat a Classic!
Step into the enchanting realm of mythology and explore the roots of modern civilisation! This beginner-friendly podcast introduces you to the fascinating tales of gods, heroes, and the rich culture of the Classical World.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 9
- Latest publication
- Sep 19, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 18, 2026
Latest episodes
Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher-King (opens the original)
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How did the wisest man ever to rule Rome end up choosing its most disastrous successor? "You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength." Marcus Aurelius wrote those words to himself, in a private diary, in a war tent, during one of the hardest stretches any Roman emperor ever had to survive. In this episode of What a Classic!, we head into the reign of Rome's philosopher-emperor: a man raised on Stoic philosophy from boyhood, who never wanted the thr
Dacia: Rome's Humiliation and Salvation (opens the original)
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How did an emperor desperate to look like a conqueror end up handing his successor an open humiliation to fix? In this episode of What a Classic!, we head to Dacia, following the war that started as one insecure emperor's unfinished business and ended as another's defining triumph. It begins with Domitian: a man with no real military record, staging a hollow triumph over a tribe he barely defeated, then getting humiliated for real when Dacia crosses the frozen Danube, kills a Roman governor, and
Boudica: The Woman Who Nearly Broke Rome (opens the original)
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How do you turn one grieving widow's revenge into the closest Rome ever came to losing a province? In this episode of What a Classic!, we head to Roman Britain for the revolt of Boudica - queen of the Iceni, and the woman behind one of the most serious crises the young province of Britannia ever faced. Most of us already have some idea of what Boudica looked like: red hair, chariot, warrior queen, furious. The trouble is, we have almost no idea whether any of that's accurate. Nearly everything w
Rome at Its Peak: Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius (opens the original)
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In this episode of What a Classic!, we pick up the story of the early Roman Empire at its absolute peak, exploring the three emperors who took Rome from its greatest territorial expansion to its most celebrated era of peace: Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. Following the foundations laid by Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius, Rome entered a period historians often call the High Empire - a stretch of remarkable stability, prosperity, and, eventually, complacency. But getting there took three ve
The Teutoburg Forest - Rome's Darkest Day (opens the original)
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How do you avenge the worst defeat in your empire's history - and what does it cost the man sent to do it? In this bonus episode of What a Classic!, we take a detour from our regular chronology to tell one of the most dramatic stories of the early Roman Empire: the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, and the life of the man forever tied to it, Germanicus. In 9 CE, three Roman legions marched into the forests of Germania and never marched out - ambushed and annihilated by a coalition of tribes led by
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